1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an upholstery fabric and to a method of manufacturing an upholstery fabric, and has particular reference to a fabric having a soft touch or velour type feel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Woven velour fabrics are well known for upholstering purposes, particularly for upholstery in motor vehicles such as cars. Such velour fabrics have an attractive feel and are regarded as a high quality fabric for use in car upholstery. A velour fabric is characterised by the fact that it has a very short pile and has a comparatively soft touch compared to a conventional woven fabric. The softness of the touch is associated with a rocking action of the pile when the velour is stroked or the fingers of a hand are rocked backwards and forwards on the velour.
Velour fabrics were initially produced by forming a complex weave from two warps which were interconnected by transverse fibres. On cutting the transverse fibres to separate the two warps, the remains of the interconnecting fibres form a short pile which gives the velour its characteristic feel.
More recently, such velour fabrics have been produced with a nylon or polyester pile by the use of a twin needle bar Raschel warp knitting machine, again to produce two interconnected layers of fabric which are sliced apart to produce two separate velour fabric pieces.
With a woven or warp-knitted velour fabric, a seat is upholstered in a conventional manner by the so-called cut-and-sew route. Individual panels of the fabric are cut to shape out of a piece of fabric and then the panels are sewn together to produce an upholstery cover. This is positioned over an upholstery core--typically a foam bun or other suitable core--to produce the seat.
More recently, proposals have been made to produce a three-dimensional knitted structure whereby a knitted upholstery fabric can be produced in a shaped form so that the knitted structure can be used immediately to upholster a core without need for expensive cutting and sewing operations. Such three-dimensional knitting of fabric structures for upholstery is described, for example, in EP-A-0518582, GB-A-2223034, GB-A-2223035 and GB-A-2223036, the contents of all of which specifications are incorporated herein by way of reference. Essentially, all such prior references utilise a flat V-bed weft knitting machine having a pair of opposed needle beds, the needles of which may be actuated by a plurality of cams, in a preferred arrangement under the control of a computerised cam actuating and needle selection mechanism.
To date, however, all the fabrics which have been produced in accordance with such three-dimensionally knitted structure systems have had a hard wearing external surface. Although the surface may be formed of a plurality of different coloured threads, so as to give an attractive pattern or other appearance on the surface, the feel of the surface of a prior art three dimensional knitted fabric has always been relatively hard.
The present invention is concerned with a knitted upholstery fabric, but one having a velour-like soft touch aesthetic surface. By "aesthetic surface" as used herein is meant a surface which, in use, is on the visible exterior of an upholstered structure or is so positioned as to be in visible or tactile relationship with a consumer or user of such a surface.
A single jersey fabric, namely a fabric which can be produced on a single row of needles, has a technical face side, which is produced in contact with the needle bed, and a technical reverse side which is away from the needle bed. Where such a fabric is produced on a V-bed machine the technical reverse side of the fabric is the side of the fabric nearer the centre line of the V-bed. In conventional knitted garment production, the technical face of the fabric is the face seen by the user and is normally the face on the exterior of the garment.
A double jersey structure, by comparison, is produced on both beds of a V-bed knitting machine, and has in effect a pair of faces interconnected by inter-engaging loops of knitting. It will be appreciated, therefore, that double jersey structures tend to be heavier in weight than single jersey structures.
The application of the present invention permits the production of both knitted single jersey fabrics having a velour-like feel as well as knitted double jersey fabrics having a velour-like feel. A further advantage of the invention is that, in its preferred form, it maximises the use of comparatively expensive "effect" yarns, namely relatively expensive chenille yarns.
By "chenille yarn" as is used herein is meant a yarn having a elongate core extending continuously in the direction of the yarn and a pile extending substantially at right-angles to the core so as to give the chenille yarn its characteristic appearance and properties.